Highly selective MSX process recovers heavy rare earth elements

CMI at Oak Ridge National Laboratory conducted the activity for this highlight

Innovation 
Energy efficient and cost-effective membrane solvent extraction (MSX) technology has been developed to recover heavy rare earth elements (HREEs) from a wide range of end-of-life (EoL) electric vehicle (EV) magnets for clean energy, vehicle technology, and defense applications.

Achievement 
Successfully demonstrated the separation of dysprosium (Dy) from EV magnets (obtained  from Chevy Volt transmission drive with 8.9 wt.% Dy) with >95 % recovery and  >99.9 wt.% purity.

Significance and Impact
MSX Technology provides a potential pathway for industry deployment to domestically produce HREEs with high purity and recovery from complex EV magnets feedstock. 

Hub Target Addressed 
Win industry adoption of one technology to produce HREEs using domestically available EoL EV magnets. 

Overall process flow diagram to produce high purity Dy from EoL EV magnets using MSX system.
Overall process flow diagram to produce high purity Dy from EoL EV magnets using MSX system.